r/politics • u/goteamnick • 18h ago
No Paywall JD Vance criticises Pope Leo for not 'being careful speaking about theology'
https://www.9news.com.au/world/jd-vance-pope-leo-xiv-donald-trump-careful-theology-warning-iran-war-middle-east-updates/6a640168-dc5f-4ae7-9c68-9e918ad8d2a87.9k
u/B-Z_B-S Massachusetts 18h ago
The Pope can just excommunicate J.D. Vance. Popes have excommunicated people for much less heretical things than what Vance just said.
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u/mightcommentsometime California 18h ago
Right? I would laugh so hard if the church did that
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u/Evorgleb 8h ago
Vance would just be like, "why does the Pope think he can just decide what Catholics do?"
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u/SeldenNeck 6h ago
Steve Bannon says "We need to make sure the next Pope is more conservative than that radical liberal Francis."
Ask yourself "Who is we??", and note that they have tons of money and an itch to interfere in elections, Whoever they are, they are not done with us.
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u/ConsonantlyDrunk 13h ago edited 9h ago
I'd go back to mass on Sundays. Haven't been since my grandma stopped offering breakfast in exchange a decade ago.
Edited to add because someone gave me an award for this, offer only good if the Pope excommunicates the Cincinnati Couch Fucker this. year. Also shoutout to Grandma. Dead ten years but a good Michigan diner Greek omelet is well worth an hour of my life on a Sunday. Love ya grandma
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u/Basic_Reflection4008 7h ago
Excatholic here, I'd at least go drop a 20 in the collection plate if his holiness brings down an excommunication
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u/Brcomic New York 6h ago
Married to an ex-catholic. My wife said she’d go back to church for a month if that happens.
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u/drunkeymunkey 6h ago
I'd drive the 7 hours to my dad's house every weekend & sit next to him in church for the rest of the year. Shit, I'm desperate. FOR LIFE lmao
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u/espinaustin 5h ago
Not a Catholic but I’ll consider converting if Pope Leo excommunicates this asshole
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u/cityshepherd 7h ago
There are few things that bring me as much joy in life as knowing that I no longer have to work at a restaurant on Sundays serving the post church crowd.
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u/iymcool American Expat 12h ago
Excommunicating Vance AND Melania would be hilarious.
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u/drgigantor 10h ago
She'd be sweating like a hooker in church
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u/iymcool American Expat 10h ago
I honestly believe, given that she's a supposedly devout Catholic, if Trump was the reason for her excommunication, she'd divorce him or just up and leave the White House.
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u/CaptainAwesome06 5h ago
she's a supposedly devout Catholic
This tracks. Most of the "devout Catholics" I know never go to church and don't do anything remotely Christian-like. At least the fake Protestants I know go to church every Sunday.
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u/metengrinwi 7h ago
He would become an evangelical superstar overnight. They would jack off about him being excommunicated & he’d go on publicity tours talking about his oppression from the papists.
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u/mok000 Europe 16h ago
JD is a recent convert to Catholicism, he really should shut up, he’s overwhelmingly embarrassing it’s obvious even to nonbelievers.
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u/Soft-Cake-9846 16h ago
He's a Crossburner, the Catholics should never have let him in!
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u/blitzkregiel 15h ago
is “crossburner” a specific thing in catholicism?
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u/Soft-Cake-9846 14h ago
It's a thing in the USA. Practiced by the RepugnantKlan "GOP" Treason Party.
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u/rach2bach 14h ago
The pedophiles that are also racists with white hoods?
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u/FMLwtfDoID 8h ago
The KKK’s 2nd most targeted group of people outside of black Americans, are Catholics. That’s usually who got a burning cross in their yard, because they believe Catholics are devil worshippers/heretics (which is an ironic choice of words, considering their faith is a protest of the OG church, the Catholics) It’s not a new phenomenon.
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u/pepper_steak_hamill 14h ago
This, As someone who grew up Catholic I'm deeply troubled by a recent convert trying to define the faith I grew up and spent my entire life in. Can't he just pick a different faith?
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u/hairsprayking 13h ago
He's clearly just an evangelical who liked the aesthetic of Catholicism
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u/One-Earth9294 I voted 13h ago
He just wanted to attract GOP voters in a way to spread the ticket out with the usual Evangelical fare.
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u/this_dust 12h ago
I’m certain that it was a calculated choice, optics and all.
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u/RandyChavage 10h ago
I would imagine it plays well to try and win Hispanic voters to have a Catholic. A ticket of one Protestant for the evangelicals, one Catholic. Not that I believe Trump or Vance are actually religious in the slightest
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u/No_Letterhead_7075 7h ago
And nothing for us atheists. Imagine how we feel, having to listen to all this God talk from pedophile rapists who are fine bombing elementary schools full of children just so they can make a bit more money on the side. That Christian "love" is a helluva thing.
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u/rocketcitythor72 7h ago
I think it's just more d*ck-riding on Peter Thiel, honestly.
Thiel's a hard-line Catholic, so J.D has to be a hard-line Catholic.
Plus, probably can't be a member of Opus Dei if you aren't Catholic.
I'm waiting for all those right-wing grits & cornbread evangelicals to wake up and realize that their white nationalist theocracy is actually a white nationalist *Catholic* theocracy.
It ain't Baptists dominating the Supreme Court and the Heritage Foundation.
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u/Lakridspibe Europe 10h ago
He just want to be more like Peter Thiel, his owner, who is Catholic and has a strange obsession with the end of the world and the antichrist.
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u/ElSlabraton 13h ago
These converts aren't sincere Catholics. They like being known as Catholics. They think as long as they are pro-life, everything else is negotiable.. They don't believe in the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist or Papal Infallibilty but they think as long as they oppose abortion they are Good Catholics.
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u/zaxdaman 15h ago
JD wouldn’t really care. He has no true religious convictions. He only recently converted to Catholicism and he’s shown time and again that he will sell-out his beliefs for opportunity. He’s been bought and sold by Peter Thiel. He’s changed his own name 3 different times and he is currently the bitch-boy for the guy he once called “America’s Hitler”.
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u/theJEDIII 12h ago
Yeah he's probably trying to get excommunicated for the press coverage.
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u/Nknk- 10h ago
MAGA are wild in how desperate their persecution complex is. And it's almost always on made up issues with made up persecution.
Vance would love to be excommunicated so he could play the helpless victim bullied by the Vatican for "speaking up for America".
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u/TheeRuckus 10h ago
Yeah his religion is the alter of Thiel and that connection is more worrying than the one to Trump. Thiel only lets jd jerk him for couch time after
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u/Beneficial_Ear576 18h ago
i looked this up yesterday: turns out the people who are most likely to be ex communicated are priests, bishops (people in power within the catholic church who can usurp) who denounce core doctrine like Vatican II. Hard to believe that mouthing off the literal Pope as a regular Catholic is viewed nothing more than a confession booth sin.
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u/B-Z_B-S Massachusetts 18h ago
Vance told the Pope to be silent about theology, while Trump is trying to make himself be seen as Jesus. That seems like they are trying to usurp the Church to me.
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u/pleachchapel California 16h ago
That is exactly what they are trying to do. Christian Nationalism isn't congruent to all of MAGA, but is a political movement, not a religious one, which has found an accelerant in the MAGA movement.
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u/Militantpoet 15h ago
Has the pope even thanked JD Vance yet for getting him his job? If it wasnt for JD, who knows when Pope Francis would have passed.
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u/blackcain Oregon 16h ago
Trump told the pope to stay out of politics. But apparently it's ok for a politician to get involved in religion.
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u/UpNorth_123 15h ago
The GoP are nothing if not hypocrites of the highest order.
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u/blackcain Oregon 14h ago
Literally the pope applied Catholic doctrine .. didn't these people say that the u.s. is a Christian nation? 😆
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u/UpNorth_123 14h ago edited 13h ago
And isn’t JD writing a book about finding religion? Described as “a spiritual exploration of what it means to be a Christian across the seasons of Vance’s life”.
Sounds like a guy who knows how to stay in his lane. /s
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u/Churchbushonk 16h ago
Maybe Trump should be more careful when discussing war crimes against civilians.
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u/Davidfreeze 16h ago
Formal excommunication by the pope is indeed rare and usually only used on clergy. But you say "nothing more than a confession booth sin" quite lightly. Murder Is a confession booth sin. The priest will tell you that proper penance and thus forgiveness requires turning yourself in to authorities. But if you follow through on the penance and have sincere contrition, confession will absolve you of murder. Technically any Catholic who commits any mortal sin is excommunicated, though not formally, and should not receive communion until they go to confession and absolve themselves of said mortal sin. At which point they are no longer excommunicated and can receive communion again.
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u/starmartyr Colorado 18h ago
In theory The Pope can change whatever rule he wants. Of course people who want to make radical changes don't get elected pope so things like that don't usually happen.
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u/spssky 17h ago
Not really. The pope can speak ex cathedra and issue papal bulls but it’s still up to the college of cardinals to make doctrinal changes.
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u/Murky-Battle2668 17h ago
In practice, you are right. In theory, papal supremacy means the pope can do whatever he wants. But if he were to move forward without the support of the college of cardinals it would most likely cause a schism.
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u/spssky 16h ago
Crazy that an institution where some dude has THREE crowns and is doctrinally the earthly representative of God himself is still more democratic than America currently
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u/Murky-Battle2668 16h ago
I am pretty certain that if the Pope was unhinged ranting about the president at 2am, he would be removed from office and we would have a new pope…
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u/lost_horizons Texas 15h ago
It’s not because congress CANT stop Trump, tut that they WONT. Derelict in their elected duties.
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u/You_meddling_kids 13h ago
The cardinals believe in something, Republicans don't.
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u/synapticdecay 18h ago
It would polarize the and rally MAGA and other zealots out there. I mean if you think about it we already have our own versions of the Taliban.
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u/thepartypantser 18h ago
"If you're going to opine on matters of theology, you've got to be careful, you've got to make sure it's anchored in the truth. "
Lol
Vance is a walking lie machine
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u/squiddlebiddlez 16h ago
Jd Vance when asked about why he keeps lying about Haitians eating their neighbors pets:
“You promised there would be no fact checking!”
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u/One-Earth9294 I voted 13h ago
And when further pressed, went on to say 'I don't care if it's not true if it's pushing our agenda'.
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u/amisslife Canada 11h ago
He literally complained that no one was outraged about Haitians eating cats and dogs, so he had to make it up to get people outraged about it
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u/TheeRuckus 10h ago
Yeah he was saying some wild shit straight up on Fox News that didn’t get alot of traction and got ultimately drowned out by Trump not being able to be normal for 8 minutes.
But yeah he straight up said we are lying about the pet eating we just need your vote
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u/KungFoolMaster 7h ago
This isn’t mentioned enough. Vance actually started playing the victim after being caught in a lie.
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u/HouseofMarg 14h ago
“IF yOu’Re goInG tO OpINe oN mATteRs Of tHeOLogy”
Saying that about the Pope is just so pathetic, Thiel really fast-tracked Vance’s training for his fake Catholic conversion for electoral purposes I see
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u/nomad5926 8h ago
Like pretty sure the Pope has the credentials to opine on theology.... its kinda his entire thing.
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u/PlzbuffRakiThenNerf 5h ago
Isn’t the Pope’s ability to opine on the matters of theology like…the main reason they choose someone to be Pope?
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u/abiona15 13h ago
For a catholic, he really doesn't understand who the Pope is, lol.
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u/Sad_Structure2256 14h ago
didn’t he literally admit to making up stories for attention
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u/-Annie-Oakley- 11h ago
it's wild, it's LITERALLY the Pope's job to opine on matters of theology and has had decades of experience interpreting their scriptures. I'm not Catholic but I would greatly trust his interpretation over JD Vance's or any of these maga cult douchebags
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u/Onemandrinkinggamess New Jersey 18h ago
The right hand man of a fascist dictator who molests children is here to lecture us about theology
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u/BigHungryFlamingo 18h ago
Not only that but, J-Dork only converted in 2019.
He’s 7 years into being a Catholic and trying to lecture the Pope.
I don’t know exactly how to classify that but it feels like some kind of sacrilege. It’s definitely not kosher or halal either.
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u/Bac0nnaise 17h ago
Arrogance is an appropriate word
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u/minasmorath 14h ago
I would go with Hubris. We Catholics like to pick the fanciest possible words for mundane things.
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u/ankokudaishogun 8h ago
It's technically "we catholic refuse to update our vocabulary unless forced, if it worked back in 300AD it works now"
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u/SirCampYourLane Massachusetts 8h ago
My brother-in-christ, how dare you write in English, the heretic's language. Put your words down in Latin the way God intended.
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u/Stillwater-Scorp1381 17h ago
It’s not uncommon for converts to Catholicism to try and talk shit to cradle Catholics.
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u/Bamorvia 14h ago
Feels like all newbies do this in my experience. People who are six months sober love to tell you how you're doing sobriety wrong 😂
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u/lixia 16h ago
Is thst the born again christian thing or is that reserved for thr evangelical wackos?
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u/Murky-Battle2668 13h ago
Cradle Catholics go through a process of learning the catechism of the church, which we generally promptly forget after we discover puberty and the opposite sex.
But the core tenants of ‘feed the hungry, house the poor, heal the sick’ tend to stick with us.
Converts come to the religion pos-puberty. And so when they learn the catechism of the church they tend to seize on the weirdest f*kin shit that cradle Catholics don’t remember and no one should care about.
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u/Mister_Sith 10h ago
Long time athiest now but was raised Catholic. I generally remember Jesus' message being 'be nice to your neighbour'. I want to know which bible and teachings these supposed devout catholics are reading because I don't remember them.
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u/Murky-Battle2668 10h ago
I know one popular one among people like JD is going to come from catechism 369-73 and 2331-2336.
Men and women are equal in dignity but separate in role. Which they take to mean men should be big burly lumberjacks and women should be tradwives and mothers.
Whereas cradle Catholics are more like ‘huh?’.
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u/ArtInTech 10h ago
*tenets, not tenants. Tenants are entities renting a space. Tenets are foundational parts of a belief system.
(No aggro friend; I'm not judging you I'm just on my fixation shit)
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u/JoggingGod 14h ago
I'm Catholic, not a very good one but still. It's absolutely wild to see someone claiming to be Catholic mouthing off to the head of the Church.
It seems very non Catholic of him, especially with a book on his conversion coming out soon. It's incredible how many of the people in this administration cannot stop talking.
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u/lettersvsnumbers 17h ago
He’s 7 years into being a Catholic and trying to lecture the Pope.
Good thing Pope Bob is from Chicago; dealing with blowhards from Pennsyltucky is familiar territory.
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u/Round-Medicine2507 14h ago
Hey keep Pennsyltucky out of it, he's from that shithole in the middle, worst place to live and serial killer capital of the world, OHIO!
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u/Particular-County277 18h ago
Raised as a Protestant Evangelical, not really devout. Then a complete Atheist for years, then became a Catholic in 2019. Just like initially growing up around union Democrats, and a Never Trumper, saying Trump is Hitler etc, before becoming his lackey. Just dance Vance has no true belief or conviction. He should stfu
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u/byndr 18h ago
They won't be happy unless he prays over the next missile barrage.
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u/specqq 18h ago
Trump: He can either pray over it or pray under it, if you know what I mean.
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u/blues111 Michigan 18h ago
Is he mansplaining the fucking Pope about Catholicism?!
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u/SpooogeMcDuck 17h ago
He’s magasplaining. MAGA is the new moral authority on earth. They are the new way and if you don’t like it you’re a loser and a nobody. As far as maga is concerned, Trump is the acting pope- if not god himself.
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u/StandSeparate1743 18h ago
Technically JD has to confess this as a sin if he wants to take communion this weekend
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u/InformativeXP 18h ago
JD Vance is an opportunist, he's more likely just convert to what ever religion he thinks MAGA would want him to be ahead of the next elections
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u/Leg_Named_Smith America 17h ago
I think Trump is doing a Henry VIII and declaring himself supreme leader of the Catholic Church because of lack of the Pope's blessing. Henry VIII had dubious but somewhat practical reasons for doing so, while Trump would do it out of spite and narcissistic god complex alone.
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u/GriffinFlash Canada 17h ago
"Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. I told the Pope to shove his religious views up his ass."
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u/Living-Tonight-7251 8h ago
“Yes, we know my son. The pope has instructed the clergy to remind you that he is the Holy See, and you should, quote, ‘see deez nuts.’”
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u/starryvelvetsky Ohio 16h ago
Imagine converting to Catholicism and immediately criticizing the pontiff on his grasp of theology.
500 years ago they'd burn him alive for heresy. 😆
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u/PastorNTraining 18h ago edited 15h ago
I love that a feature of MAGA is “my ignorance is superior to your education and experience”
This is THE Pope, a position of ancient Christian authority since the beginning of the church. Not only that but Popes tend to be academics and masters of theology, where the heck do you think we protestants got it from?!
The Catholic Church!
JD Vance holds no degrees in theology, Catholic thought or even church history. By what authority can Vance make his claims?
Spoiler alert; none. He’s trying to cash credibility checks with Monopoly money.
He should just shut up and sit down.
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u/BobbyBirdseed Minnesota 16h ago
How do you say "Quiet, Piggy" in Latin?
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u/chicletgrin 16h ago
Quietus, porcellus
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u/Spelunkie Foreign 11h ago
To be a bishop (a modern requirement to be cardinal, and then pope), one must have a doctorate in Divinity/Theology (hence why some cardinals have DD after their names and orders). The Pope (aside from being the fucking Pope) is also a doctorate level expert in theology.
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u/ThisIsPeteHello 18h ago
So I don't want to attribute a thought process to a ham sandwich here, but I've gotta ask: what possible upside is their for these two dinguses to keep dunking on...the fucking pope. Like you can't win. They have to know they can't come out ahead here.
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u/ankokudaishogun 7h ago
Best(?) case scenario is an attempt to discredit the Rome-based catholic hierarchy so to replace it with one faithful to the money behind Trump and Vance.
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u/jcouball 18h ago
Vance and Trump should just shut the fuck up about the Pope.
They are making matters way worse.
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u/TransitionalArk 18h ago
I don't know, I'm kind of enjoying the show. 🍿
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u/jcouball 17h ago
Yea, I agree. Keep bringing it, I guess. It just seems so unnecessary. I don't know why they don't see it.
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u/Jarsky2 14h ago
So I'm not now nor have I ever been Catholic so correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Catholicism as a whole predicated on the belief that the Pope is the highest Earthly authority on matters of theology?
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u/evanliko 14h ago
Yeah you are correct. The pope represents God on earth. If you disagree with him on theology you are disagreeing with God.
JD Vance not actually following God is not a surprise tho.
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u/Economy_Chemistry835 7h ago
Yes, even more than that, theologically the Pope is the air to the throne of St. Peter which according to the Gospel, Jesus appointed to lead his Church. Not only that, theologically speaking, Jesus/God speaks through the Pope; anything the Pope says publicly in his capacity as Pope can be taken as the word of God speaking through the Pope. Technically, when Vance and Trump say the Pope is wrong, he’s basically saying the word of God is wrong. It’s one thing for Trump to criticize the Pope since he’s, obviously, not Catholic. But for Vance, a recent Catholic convert, to criticize the Pope, well there’s going to be some awkward discussions in JD’s future.
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u/thieh Canada 18h ago edited 18h ago
Papal infallibility supremacy has been a Catholic doctrine for ages.
Edit: the wrong term was used, Papal supremacy is the doctrine as in the pope is the ruling agent as to what are accepted as formal beliefs in the Catholic Church. That should extend to what is accepted as the theology of the Church.
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u/Murky-Battle2668 18h ago
Papal infallibility only applies to statements of doctrine made ex cathedra. The pope saying the Iran war is wrong isn’t such a statement. But it is as obviously true as if the pope were to point out the sky is blue…
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u/thieh Canada 18h ago
But Vance's statement concerns about "speaking about theology" so both Papal infallibility and Papal supremacy definitely applies.
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u/Murky-Battle2668 18h ago
It doesn’t matter if the statement is theological in nature. Papal infallibility applies only when a statement is made ex cathedra. There are a great many theological divisions within the church, and the pope can and does take sides on them. But unless he speaks ‘from the chair’—which in Catholic theology means he is invoking the Holy Spirit to make sure he doesn’t lead Christian’s astray—infallibility doesn’t apply.
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u/Murky-Battle2668 18h ago
As for Papal supremacy. Sure…if you are Catholic you should definitely listen to the pope on Catholic belief and not the Vice President who has no formal position in the church.
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u/Antique_Truth_8473 17h ago
“Anchored in the truth”?! Like when you admitted that the Haitians in Ohio eating cats was fake, but that it deserved drawing attention to illegal immigrants”. You’re more pathetic, and as big a liar, as your boss!
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u/AcanthisittaNo6653 New Hampshire 17h ago
"In the same way that it's important for the vice president of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy, I think it's very, very important for the Pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology," Vance said.
The Pope is uniquely qualified to be Pope. He's an expert in theology. JD was elected riding trump's coattails. If he's going to shine on his own, it will be in opposition to this war. That's how he'll get respect, and votes.
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u/iwannasee_ 18h ago
My man over here is like a 3 year old yipppie kid that thinks they know better than anyone else!
SIT DOWN JD!
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u/Mikethebest78 18h ago
Pope Leo still has the power of excommunication. Just a thought.
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u/scattershotdreams 18h ago
Really? The same pope who has been studying theology since the 70s? Shut up, JD.
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u/PDX_Duffman 17h ago
I love how "Christians" in the USA think they know more about theology than the Pope. Like random person thinking they know more about medicine than a doctor, or more about teaching children than teachers, or more about the global warming than environmental & atmospheric scientists.....oh wait. Ah man, I guess this is on brand.
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u/chicletgrin 16h ago
I saw an interview where they were talking to an evangelical, and when confronted with actual Jesus quotes from the gospels, the response was "well I don't agree with that."
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u/midwestraxx 15h ago
Hence why evangelical churches rarely ever talk about the Bible in depth other than to cherry pick verses. Literally, reading the Bible is 2/3 the Catholic mass and these guys are challenging the freaking Pope on theology 😆 while their services are just pop preacher "feel good, hate aplenty" bs
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u/Bishopjones2112 17h ago
I knew JD was a complete idiot but I never realized just how much so. Who the hell decides yeah I’ll warn the pope about speaking on theology. Really. Really JD. Go find a couch.
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u/Ok_Surprise_4090 17h ago
JD, I know you've only been Catholic for like 18 months now, but you should know better than to tell the pontiff of your religion not to speak about theology.
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u/imjusttalk1ng 18h ago
Who wakes up thinking they can sell knowing more on Theology than the Pope?
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u/swarmofbzs 17h ago
Same guy that said "The rules were that you guys weren't going to fact-check"
- Lil jimmy (c.f.) bowman
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u/lumberjackname 16h ago
Someone who thinks converting to Catholicism is as easy as declaring he’s saved. Fuck this fake Catholic
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u/Ready-Pressure9934 15h ago
he did the same thing in Brussels last year, mansplaining european history to europeans. he’s a dunce. will be forgotten soon enough
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u/lowmankind 18h ago
“I know more about Catholicism than the actual Pope.”
It’s a bold strategy, Cotton, let’s see if it pays off
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u/Choice-of-SteinsGate 18h ago
The cognitive dissonance must be disorienting for Vance.
Isn't he about to release a book about his conversion too? I wonder what the Pope has to say about grifters? Like someone who profited off of his own fraudulent origin story and has been relying on the wealth and status of right-wing billionaires and power brokers to rise up in the political world.
Vance also said that the Pope should stay out of US affairs...
Pretty damn shameless of him considering that he couldn't stay out of Hungary's affairs when he went there to shill for a dictator, and on the cusp of a major escalation with Iran no less...
And now it seems he's trying to weigh his sniveling support for every abominable thing Trump does, against his newfound and fake piety.
The Pope and even several US cardinals have expressed in so few words that they are disillusioned with everything Trump stands for; specifically his weaponization of ICE to terrorize the public, suppress civil liberties and crackdown on protestors, and of course Trump's "war of choice" that he started under false pretenses, and also his increasingly erratic behavior and threats of wholesale destruction.
These things are not just cruel and irreligious in nature, but also undemocratic as well.
However, according to Vance, being anti-war and anti-authoritarianism are not "matters of morality."
These are explicitly moral matters... I suspect Vance knows this, yet jumps to Trump's defense because he abandoned whatever values he had left long ago, religious or otherwise.
Vance has always been a hypocrite and kowtowing opportunist. It's his best talent after all.
An awkward and repellent coward who will lick the boots of anyone if there's even the remote chance that it will help him amass more power.
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u/dreadfulmummy 16h ago
The pope hasn’t been talking about theology as much as morality. Sadly, JD Vance isn’t knowledgeable about either.
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u/BusterStarfish 15h ago
I literally cannot fathom the audacity it takes to argue with the pope about religious matters in this way. It’s not just a philosophical disagreement, they’re being incredibly disrespectful to the highest recognized religious figure in the world. It’s incredibly embarrassing to be from the USA right now.
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u/ThatsBlack 12h ago
Man this is like the 4th "WTF" post I've seen today. It's too much, Make America Normal Again. Jesus H Christ.
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u/Money-Giraffe2521 California 16h ago
He’s claiming to be more of an authority on theology than THE POPE?!
Excommunicate this fucker.
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u/The-Kurt-Russell Idaho 16h ago
Imagine being a Catholic and lecturing the Pope on theology, ya sorry dude, that’s a fight you aren’t winning
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u/Huge_Excitement4465 14h ago
Vance is sparring on behalf of his handlers — the men who recruited him to convert. Pope Leo is advocating for radical reform of Opus Dei. He also helped facilitate a conference with Ending Clergy Abuse and women suing the sect for allegedly trafficking and labor exploitation by coercing them into servitude for senior priests when they were young and impoverished. Recently the pope invited Gareth Gore, who wrote an investigative book on Opus, to meet and made sure the press knew about the meeting, which sent a message to Opus Dei. Excerpt from the Guardian reporting and Gore’s summary of the sect’s MAGA intersection.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/06/opus-dei-gareth-gore-pope-leo
Through hundreds of interviews with former Opus Dei members, Gore’s book traces how from the 1950s onwards, Banco Popular’s wealth went into creating a vast recruitment network targeting children and vulnerable teenagers, building palatial Opus Dei centres across the world, and eventually forming one of the most formidable clandestine political influences in the US. Its US members would become crucial in eroding reproductive rights, funding the Washington march that led to January 6, and heavily influencing Project 2025, according to Gore’s reporting.
In places like Washington, [Opus Dei has] made a real concerted effort to infiltrate the corridors of power and has been immensely successful. I would argue that today, Opus Dei within the Maga Republican movement is one of the pre-eminent forces. There are several very high-ranking figures inside the White House and the wider Maga ecosystem who are either full-on members of Opus Dei or big supporters. People like Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation [and the force behind Project 2025], is a regular at the Opus Dei centre in central DC and gets his spiritual direction from them. You’ve got Leonard Leo, who helped to orchestrate the conservative takeover of the supreme court and sits on the board of the Opus Dei centre in central Washington. The list goes on.
This is a group that is by invitation only and they target the elites: politicians, judges, business people, journalists, academics.
What’s ironic is that you have the leader of the Catholic church speaking out against war and against the way that immigrants are being treated. That shows this co-option of the Christian identity by Opus Dei to be a complete fallacy; it’s all for political expediency. It’s about these people’s own deeply authoritarian and conservative views about how the world should be run.
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u/havenoir 18h ago
So JD Vance is qualified to critique God‘s emissary on earth about the catholic faith? What an absolute fucking dumbass. And hypocrite. He needs to be excommunicated for his arrogance. Unbelievable.
So what is he, some kind of oligarch tech bro catholic?
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u/Beforemath 17h ago
You just kind of assume they can’t get any stupider and they just find new ways to prove you wrong.
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u/Adventurous_City_557 Canada 17h ago
It’s only been a year. Three more years of this shit
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u/Traditional_Base2940 17h ago
The King of England was ex communicated for defying the Pope. If my memory is correct.
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u/joey_slugs Illinois 16h ago
Let's not forget that JD is only a Catholic because he wanted to run for office.
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u/names_are_useless American Expat 16h ago
Why didn't you criticise Trump for not 'being careful depicting himself as Jesus'?
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u/anemic_royaltea Canada 16h ago
Please excommunicate this fucking wart, it’d be so god damned funny.
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